Tag Archives: caribbean

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CARICOM in Worldwide COVID Vaccine Quest

Caribbean Community countries are shopping around the globe to acquire doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with some nations eying supplies from Cuba, China and the Middle East while hoping that the World Health Organization (WHO) could also help them obtain the medicine to begin vaccinations in the coming weeks.

The 15-nation bloc has even called for a global summit on the issue “to discuss equitable access and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines,” saying that “the reality is that small states will find it difficult to compete in the marketplace to ensure equitable access for vaccines.

“The inextricable link economically, socially, and by virtue of travel with our neighbors and the wider international community, makes it imperative for Caricom member states to be afforded access to vaccines as a matter of urgent priority. This action will be mutually beneficial in breaking the transmission of the virus,” the bloc said in a recent statement.

Most of the larger nations, including The Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Suriname have stepped up efforts to fly in supplies and some leaders like Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados have moved to lead by example taking the first dose from a small number of supplies the island acquired in the last month.

Trinidadian colleague Keith Rowley has, as well, publicly vowed to also lead the way when doses arrive in his oil and gas-rich twin island republic with Tobago. In most of the countries in the region, leaders have already said that taking the stab in the arm would not be in any way mandatory.

Over the weekend, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali says authorities are working toward eventual herd immunity even as China has offered to donate 20,000 doses of its version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We are pursuing all avenues to get as much vaccines to cover the population as quickly as possible. China has confirmed that it will be donating 20,000 doses of vaccines to Guyana. Discussions are ongoing and arrangements to acquire vaccines from these countries will be finalized shortly.” Distribution will be free Ali said.

In neighboring Trinidad, PM Rowley urged locals to prepare to take the vaccine, reminding citizens that they have nothing to fear.

“As long as it is signed off by WHO as the scientific product for this purpose, I have no hesitation in taking it myself or recommending it for my family. There is nothing that you can offer to the world that will get 100% support from the human population and therefore, I will not be fazed by the comments about what vaccines we can and cannot get.”

Meanwhile, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a $20 million loan to The Bahamas to acquire stocks and improve institutional capacity to deal with the pandemic IDB President Mauricio Claver Carone said.

“This will facilitate access to the vaccine, it will also create an executing agency for it that is going to strengthen the Ministry of Health. Of that $20 million, $4.5 million is to be directly allocated to the purchase of the vaccine and the remainder will go toward the infrastructure surrounding its distribution. We feel very confident. We have been working very closely with the Bahamian authorities in order to execute this plan. We don’t want it to be reactive, we want to be proactive.”

The efforts to acquire vaccines comes as several countries including Suriname, St. Vincent, Barbados and The Bahamas have either extended nighttime curfews or have moved to tighten regulations regarding commercial and social activities among their citizens as positive numbers have spiked in the days after the Christmas holidays.

For those largely dependent on tourism, mass cancellations of tourists and business flights from Canada and The United Kingdom have only served to pile on the economic fallout from the pandemic as commercial activities have been severely reduced.

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Myanmar: Deposed Leader Charged, Opposition to Coup Grows

A convoy of army vehicles patrol the streets in Mandalay, Myanmar, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. In the early hours of Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, the Myanmar army took over the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup over allegations of fraud in November’s elections. (AP Photo)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar authorities charged the country’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies, her allies said Wednesday, a move that gives the generals who overthrew her legal grounds to detain her for two weeks.

The charge came to light two days after Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest and appeared to be an effort to lend a legal veneer to her detention, though the generals have previously kept her and others locked up for years.

The military announced Monday that it would take power for one year — accusing Suu Kyi’s government of not investigating allegations of voter fraud in recent elections. Suu Kyi’s party swept that vote, and the military-backed party did poorly.

National League for Democracy spokesman Kyi Toe confirmed the charge against Suu Kyi that carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. He also said the country’s ousted president, Win Myint, was charged with violating the natural disaster management law. A leaked charge sheet dated Feb. 1 indicates they can be held until Feb. 15.

“It was clear that the military were going to look for some legal cases against the leaders of the National League for Democracy and especially Aung San Suu Kyi to actually legitimize what they’ve tried to do,” said Larry Jagan, an independent analyst of Myanmar affairs. “And that is really a power grab.”

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Police and court officials in the capital Naypyitaw could not be contacted.

While authorities were working to keep Suu Kyi in detention, hundreds of lawmakers who had been forced to stay at government housing after the coup were told Wednesday to leave the capital city within 24 hours and go home, said a member of Parliament from Suu Kyi’s party who is among the group. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared drawing the military’s attention.

Journalists saw lines of cars, with the lawmakers inside, leaving the heavily guarded compound on Wednesday afternoon.

The coup was a dramatic backslide for Myanmar, which had been making progress toward democracy, and highlighted the extent to which the generals have ultimately maintained control in the Southeast Asian country.

In response to the coup, Suu Kyi’s party has called for nonviolent resistance, and residents in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, honked car horns and banged on pots and pans in a noisy protest for a second consecutive night Wednesday. Supporters of the military have also staged demonstrations.

Medical workers have also declared they won’t work for the new military government in protest of the coup at a time when the country is battling a steady rise in COVID-19 cases with a dangerously inadequate health system. Photos were shared on social media showing health workers with red ribbons pinned to their clothes or holding printed photos of red ribbons.

Protests against the coup occurred in Japan as well as in neighboring Thailand, where Khin Maung Soo, a Myanmar national, said Wednesday that he was demonstrating to “show the world that we are not happy with what happened.”

He added: “We want the whole world to help us too.”

The takeover marked a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her party won elections in 2015. Suu Kyi had been a fierce critic of the army while in detention, but as a politician, she worked with the generals and even defended their crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

That shift damaged her international reputation, but Western governments have made clear they consider her the country’s legitimate leader and Monday’s takeover a coup.

“We call on the military to immediately release them all and detained civilian and political leaders, journalists and detained human rights activists and to restore the democratically elected government to power,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.

The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations issued a statement making similar calls Wednesday, a day after the U.N. Security Council met over the matter. In an interview on Washington Post Live, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations would work with key international players “to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails.”

In Myanmar, the leader of the new government said it planned to investigate alleged fraud in the November elections, a state newspaper reported. While the military has cited the government’s failure to properly investigate alleged voting irregularities as its reason for the coup, the state Union Election Commission had found no evidence of fraud.

Analysts say the landslide victory of Suu Kyi’s party may have surprised the generals — and made them concerned that the party had too much power, even though the military-drafted 2008 constitution ensured it would retain significant control, including with an allocation of 25% of the seats in Parliament.

The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper also reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the top leader of the new military government, said coronavirus containment measures taken by Suu Kyi’s government would be continued.

Myanmar has confirmed more than 140,600 cases of COVID-19, including some 3,100 deaths. Its health care infrastructure is one of the weakest in Asia, according to U.N. surveys.

A statement issued Wednesday in the name of the executive members of Suu Kyi’s party said that authorities began raiding the party’s offices in Mandalay and other states and regions on Tuesday and seized documents and laptop computers.

The statement on the Facebook page of party spokesman Kyi Toe said locks were broken at several offices. It denounced the raids as illegal and demanded that they stop.

Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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Former Ugandan Rebel Leader Convicted of War Crimes

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Ugandan former rebel commander Dominic Ongwen was convicted on Thursday of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual enslavement, abducting children, torture and pillaging.

Judges at the International Criminal Court said Ongwen, who himself was taken by the Lord’s Resistance Army as a young boy, had acted out of free will in committing the crimes between 2002 and 2005.

“There exists no ground excluding Dominic Ongwen’s criminal responsibility. His guilt has been established beyond any reasonable doubt,” Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said.

In a legal first, Ongwen was also convicted for the crime of forced pregnancy.

Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Bart Meijer; Writing by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Jon Boyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World Faces 4,000 COVID Variants as New Vaccine Combinations Tested

LONDON (Reuters) – The world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, prompting a race to improve vaccines, Britain said on Thursday, as researchers began to explore mixing doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots.

Thousands of variants have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others.

British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was very unlikely that the current vaccines would not work against the new variants.

“Its very unlikely that the current vaccine won’t be effective on the variants whether in Kent or other variants especially when it comes to severe illness and hospitalisation,” Zahawi told Sky News.

“All manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and others, are looking at how they can improve their vaccine to make sure that we are ready for any variant – there are about 4,000 variants around the world of COVID now.”

While thousands of variants have arisen as the virus mutates on replication, only a very small minority are likely to be important and to change the virus in an appreciable way, according to the British Medical Journal.

The so called British variant, known as VUI-202012/01, has mutations including a change in the spike protein that viruses use to bind to the human ACE2 receptor – meaning that it is probably easier to catch.

“We have the largest genome sequencing industry – we have about 50% of the world’s genome sequencing industry – and we are keeping a library of all the variants so that we are ready to respond – whether in the autumn or beyond – to any challenge that the virus may present and produce the next vaccine,” Zahawi said.

VACCINE RACE

The novel coronavirus – known as SARS-CoV-2 – has killed 2.268 million people worldwide since it emerged in China in late 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Israel is currently far ahead of the rest of the world on vaccinations per head of population, followed by the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, the United States and then Spain, Italy and Germany.

Britain on Thursday launched a trial to assess the immune responses generated if doses of the vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are combined in a two-shot schedule.

The British researchers behind the trial said data on vaccinating people with the two different types of vaccines could help understanding of whether shots can be rolled out with greater flexibility around the world. Initial data on immune responses is expected to be generated around June.

The trial will examine the immune responses of an initial dose of Pfizer vaccine followed by a booster of AstraZeneca’s, as well as vice versa, with intervals of four and 12 weeks.

Both the mRNA shot developed by Pfizer and BioNtech and the adenovirus viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are currently being rolled out in Britain, with a 12-week gap between two doses of the same vaccine.

Vaccine-Virus Transmission: A new study may help answer answer one of the major questions about the campaign to suppress the outbreak. Researchers from Oxford University say AstraZeneca’s vaccine does more than protect people from falling seriously ill — it also has the potential to reduce transmission of the virus. The study also suggested that a single dose of the formula provides a high level of protection for 12 weeks, which may vindicate the British government’s controversial strategy of delaying the second shot so that more people can be quickly given a first dose. Until now, the recommended time between the two doses has been four weeks. Danica Kirka and Lauran Neergaard report.

Britain Hard-Hit Borough: In parts of east London, the pandemic has hit much harder than most places in the U.K. The borough of Redbridge in the outer reaches of the capital had the nation’s second-worst infection rate in January. While case rates have come down, leaders say the borough is still “in the eye of the storm.” Officials say the area’s dense housing, high levels of poverty and large number of workers in public-facing jobs combine to make it more vulnerable. Many of the lower-income essential workers are ethnic minorities, who are among the most at-risk but also hardest to persuade to take up the vaccine, Sylvia Hui reports.

Czech 1M: The Czech Republic has reached 1 million confirmed cases. It is by far the smallest of the 21 countries to surpass the milestone, with the U.S. leading the global table with more than 26 million With a population of 10.7 million, the country has registered 16,683 deaths. Nearly 6,000 people are hospitalized while just over 1,000 are in intensive care, putting the health system under increasing pressure, Karel Janicek reports from Prague. The country was spared the worst of the pandemic in the spring only to see its health care system near collapse in the fall and again in January after the coalition government repeatedly let down pandemic guards despite warnings by experts.

France ICU: The ICU ward at the biggest hospital in southern France is facing a constant, steady flow of virus patients. A 16-year-old was brought in this week, its youngest patient to date. Staff at the La Timone Hospital’s ICU ward in Marseille say they’re just about managing, but the situation could worsen any day. France has lost more than 77,000 lives to the virus. Daniel Cole reports.

 

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Federation readies national COVID-19 vaccine deployment, implementation plan

Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — With 21,600 COVID-19 vaccines expected to arrive in the next month or two, St. Kitts and Nevis is gearing up to roll out its National Vaccine Deployment and Implementation Plan.

The vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will be available through the COVID-19 Global Access (COVAX) Facility.

“The demand for a jab far exceeds the expected supply,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws. “Health authorities will rely on the established plan to notify who will receive a vaccine in this initial phase.”

“Recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) will also be considered as the various groups and individuals are identified,” explained Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital.

“The recommendation is that persons at risk be vaccinated first,” said Dr. Wilkinson. “Frontline healthcare workers are the ones who are usually first, and then vulnerable, persons who are in nursing homes who may succumb from the disease.”

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws.

Dr. Laws noted that vulnerable persons include individuals suffering from multiple morbidities and other chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Persons with compromised immune systems are also a priority.

Dr. Laws indicated that vaccinations would likely not be mandatory. However, public education campaigns and other interventions will be employed to ensure that the public has all of the relevant information to make an informed decision about receiving a vaccine.

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H.E. Ambassador Osborne, RIDU fulfils multiple initiatives with regional integration, diaspora

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Multiple purposes are served by the St. Kitts and Nevis’ Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit (RIDU), which was designed to lead the implementation of a range of initiatives connected with the regional integration movement and the diaspora, according to His Excellency Lionel Sydney Osborne, Head of the RIDU, Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Organization of Caribbean States (OECS) Commissioner.

RIDU is a unit within the Office of the Prime Minister that bears the responsibility for leading the country’s thrust for deeper integration in the OECS, CARICOM and the Diaspora.

“We are acting in a way similar to a post office, so information from the CARICOM Secretariat and the OECS Commission passes through the ambassador or the commissioner,” explains HE Ambassador Osborne. “One of the things we are required to do is to make sure the information gets to relevant ministries.”

Additionally, Ambassador Osborne said that the unit also “coordinates and manages a reporting system that covers all regional meetings,” as well as “act as a source of information and dissemination.”

He noted that one of RIDU’s goals is to engage in a public awareness campaign so that persons can fully understand and appreciate the work of the unit.

“I think we want to have a programme on the unit because it is not just regional in terms of the regional diaspora, but we also cover globally,” said H.E. Osborne. “Something like that is important so that one can understand how the RIDU is supposed to function.”

RIDU was established to prepare nationals and residents to embrace opportunities and challenges. These are inherent in the integration process with changing circumstances taking place in the Eastern Caribbean’s Small Island States.

Critical issues of focus include: the free movement of people through the OECS and CARICOM; free circulation of goods and services; and closer political integration. RIDU also serves as a vehicle to facilitate closer ties with the Kittitian and Nevisian Diaspora.

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Medical expert describes using dogs to track respiratory illnesses, not COVID-19

Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Dogs can be useful in tracking people with respiratory illnesses but that they cannot locate someone who is positive with the COVID-19 virus, according to Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson.

“When someone has a respiratory infection, they produce secretions, and animals can be trained to sniff them out,” said Dr. Wilkinson. “There was a study done during which eight dogs sniffed persons who were positive for COVID and had respiratory illnesses to see whether they were able to identify these secretions.
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Federation maintains 14-day quarantine period for incoming vaccinated individuals

Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Health authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis have reiterated that all persons travelling to the Federation, including individuals who have received the full doses of COVID-19 vaccines, must quarantine for 14 days before being allowed to integrate freely into the society.

The decision, like all measures taken by the National COVID-19 Task Force, is based on the science said Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital, and Dr. Hazel Laws, Chief Medical Officer.

“We know that the vaccine can help to prevent severe disease and death, but one can still get infected if they have the vaccine and somebody who is vaccinated may be able to transmit the virus to someone who is still vulnerable,” said Dr. Wilkinson.

Dr. Laws said that while millions of persons around the world have received a jab with one of several approved vaccines, there are still many unknowns.

“Data are being collected live,” said Dr. Laws. “I hope in another month or two, we will have the answers to those questions,” referring to any changes that may be made to the length of quarantine for vaccinated persons.

The quarantine measures instituted in March 2020 have been effective in flattening the curve of the novel coronavirus. To date, St. Kitts and Nevis has recorded 39 confirmed cases with no deaths and no serious hospitalizations. There has been no community spread or cluster infections.

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Post-Cabinet briefing for February 1

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Team Unity Cabinet of Ministers met on Monday, February 1 at the Ministry of Finance Conference Room, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris. Several issues affecting the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis were deliberated on.

The Chair informed the Cabinet of some decisions taken during a recent meeting of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). Some recommendations regarding the indigenous banks were shared and in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were concerns. The Chair promised that he would engage with the ECCB as the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Limited is the largest indigenous bank within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
• The Cabinet discussed the matter of the severance payment, the viability of the Severance Fund, the method of processing claims, and the need for multi-sectoral communication.
• The National COVID-19 Task Force gave its weekly briefing to the Cabinet where the usual update on statistics with respect to infections, recoveries, and deaths locally, regionally, and internationally was given. Apart from the customary update on statistics, the Chief Medical Officer updated the Cabinet on the COVID-19 vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility and advised that the Federation would be provided with 21,600 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine very shortly. Cabinet was also advised that a doctor was already in the Federation from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) assisting with the training of local health practitioners in lab procedures. The Task Force has decided with the blessing of the Cabinet to launch a public awareness campaign to educate citizens and residents on the need to adhere to the health and safety protocols and the important benefits of being vaccinated. The Director of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) gave his usual report on traffic through the Federation by arriving and departing passengers. He advised the Cabinet that another major hotel, Kittitian Hill, had been approved for vacation in place.
• The Cabinet approved a travel advisory restricting travel from the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa where new strains of the COVID-19 virus were discovered.
• Another factory at the C.A. Paul Southwell Industrial Park has been approved to operate in two additional buildings, which would accommodate another 72 staff members returning to work.
• The Commissioner of Police gave his usual update to the Cabinet on the national crime statistics and also reported about an incident in Sandy Point involving police officers.
• Cabinet also approved submissions, which would facilitate economic activity.

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Premier Brantley updated on security matters by Nevis Police top brass

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, met with the top brass of Police District ‘C’ (Nevis), on February 2 for an update on security matters affecting the island.

Also in attendance at the meeting were Wakely Daniel, Permanent Secretary in the Premier’s Ministry; Inspector Alonzo Carty; Inspector Urita Collins-Percival; Inspector Reynold Myers; and Inspector James Stephens.

Premier Brantley said the meeting was the most recent of his weekly interactions with the police leadership on Nevis.

“We’ve instituted a weekly meeting between the Police Force High Command, so I can have regular indication of the security situation on the island,” said Hon. Brantley. “On Tuesday I was very pleased with the report that I received that there were no major crimes for the month of January. We hope the police can continue in this vein, and that we can continue to work together as a community to keep crime at the absolute lowest levels.”

Brantley commended the efforts of the police in maintaining law and order on Nevis, and keeping citizens and residents safe.

“I congratulate the police, particularly Divisional Commander for District ‘C’ (Nevis), Superintendent Lyndon David, and overall, the leadership of Commissioner Hilroy Brandy.

“I hope that in these regular interactions where we seek to find out from the police what the challenges are and how the NIA can help, that that will continue to be of great value to them and to the community,” said Brantley.

The Premier applauded members of the Nevisian community for their responsiveness and willingness to work with the police, and their general abhorrence to crime and criminality on the island.

“I believe we’ve always been a safe place and we would wish to be the safest in this Caribbean and in the world,” said Brantley.

Superintendent David, who led the law enforcement entourage, said the regular briefings with the Premier allowed not only for crime updates, but also to inform on other policing matters and concerns.

“These meetings give the police the opportunity to apprise the Premier on the crime situation on Nevis,” said Superintendent David. “We also discuss activities and proactive policing measures that we are undertaking to achieve the objectives of the Division and Force to make the island and Federation as safe as possible.”

“Over the past month there have been a number of traffic accidents, incidences of larceny and some praedial larceny,” said Superintendent David.

He reminded members of the public to be mindful of their actions, reminding that those who engage in criminal activity will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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